Middletown Democrats Seek State Party Opinion On Town Committee Takeover

Two local Democratic leaders have asked the state party to review a challenge slate’s takeover of the Democratic Town Committee in January.

A group of new leaders wrestled the town committee from some of the more established leaders at a party caucus Jan. 9.

Longtime Councilman Gerald Daley and former town committee Chairman Salvatore Nesci have filed a request with the Connecticut Democrats to set up a Dispute Resolution Committee that would review whether the challenge adhered to party rules.

“The caucus was kind of chaotic and the room was too small for the number of people who were there,” Daley said. “I and some others tried to raise some questions about what was going on that never really got answered.”

Daley is still currently a town committee member, but many “establishment” Democrats were removed when a slate, organized by Councilman Robert Blanchard and board of education Chairman Christopher Drake, put up their own slate of 70 members. The new slate won with a 118 to 41 vote.

Among those suddenly off of the town committee were Mayor Daniel Drew, Councilman Robert Santangelo and Nesci, who had been the party chairman for the last two years.

“I’m looking to make sure future actions are valid. There’s no dispute that the challenge slate got 118 votes,” Daley said. “I want to make sure there’s no cloud over the town committee. I’m not trying to invalidate what happened, I’m trying to validate it.”

The same night as the party caucus, the town committee voted to expand membership from 70 to 75. It’s likely that at least part of the state party’s review will focus on whether that expansion took effect immediately.

Nesci’s slate had 75 members, assuming that the new membership number took effect right after the vote, while Blanchard’s had 70, relying on an interpretation that the expansion takes effect later this year.

“We are confident we followed procedures, the bylaws of the Middletown Democratic Town Committee and the state party, as well as state statutes, thoroughly and correctly,” Blanchard said.

The party takeover features many new members who have embraced the progressive label. The uprising was mostly a reaction to increasing activism as a response to national political trends, and had little to do with any particular candidate, Blanchard said.

“The large majority of the people who turned out during the caucus wanted to see a change in their local party,” he said. “They want to see a party that is enthusiastic and responsive to the electoral climate in a post-Trump era.”

Democrats could have challenged the elected slate in a primary, which would have opened every polling place in the city for a day of ballot voting, but that deadline passed on Jan. 31 without a challenge.

The current Democratic Town Committee could play a huge role in the upcoming election cycles in 2018 and 2019. The new group will decide which delegates to send to statewide conventions in fiercely contested races for governor, state senator and other seats, and will endorse candidates to run for mayor and common council as four-year terms expire next year.